In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,825,135; 4,063,658 and 4,122,961 there are disclosed various forms of slag pot handling carriers intended to pick up, transport and dump large ladles or slag pots of the kind used in foundries and other slag generating industries and which weigh, when loaded, on the order of 35 to 200 metric tons. In order to keep the wheel base short and thus permit short turning radii and good maneuverability, each of the carriers disclosed in these prior patents employs a rearwardly open generally U-shaped frame with wheels on the trailing arms thereof adapted to straddle the sides of the pot or ladle as the carrier is backed into position. Other carriers have been made in the past with ladle or pot support linkages arranged to reach back of the carrier rear wheels to pick up a pot setting on the ground or on a suitable transfer car of the like. However, such past reach back type carriers have been characterized by having extremely long wheel bases in order to provide a sufficiently long forward moment arm ahead of the rear carrier wheels to compensate for the rear tilting moment generated upon lifting a heavy pot or ladle located behind the rear carrier wheels. Consequently, this has required long vehicles with large turning radii that could not be maneuvered in close quarters.